COVID-19: IMD warns of “frailties” in case tracking and controlling in Mozambique – WATCH

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COVID-19: IMD warns of “frailties” in case tracking and controlling in Mozambique – WATCH

4:07 CAT | 20 May 2020

Photo courtesy: IMD

Mozambican non-governmental organisation the Institute for Multiparty Democracy (IMD) has warned of “frailties” in the Covid-19 case tracking and controlling system in Mozambique, and says that the authorities are reducing levels of enforcement.

“Many people who should be being monitored and tracked continue to circulate, even after samples have been collected for testing,” reads the IMD note on a study carried out by the NGO to assess the extension of the state of emergency in the face of the pandemic in Mozambique.

The IMD points out, for example, the case of a seven-month-old child in the city of Beira who tested positive for the new coronavirus, while the authorities now unaware of the family’s whereabouts.

On the other hand, says the IMD, it is essential that the health system continues to provide assistance to people with other diseases at a time when hospitals have prioritised external consultations for cases considered non-serious.

“Care service for other patients in the health sector [must] be carried out without restrictions, since there is still no Covid-19 patient hospitalised,” the IMD says. [This was before the first patient in Mozambique was hospitalised in Maputo, on Monday, May 19]

In the education sector, the NGO also warns of the limitations of holding classes via radio and television, pointing out that most students in Mozambique do not have access to these means.

Urgent action for transport needed

“Another sector that shows weaknesses and requires energetic and urgent action is transport, where, although people are, in general, wearing masks and respecting the interpersonal distance in the queues, deficient and weak transport services delivery capacity is rendering the effect of the measures ineffective,” the NGO adds.

The NGO document suggests the strengthening of awareness and control, as well as of means to compel people to remain in quarantine, considering that any possible ‘lockdown’ in Mozambique in response to the increasing number of cases would be ineffective.